Introduction to Marketing Strategies and Tactics

Marketing strategies and tactics are very important to any business any field. In this series of articles we will take a close look on the different marketing strategies and tactics, how to use them and how to choose between them.

But first we need to talk about the difference between marketing strategies and marketing tactics. strategies are long term plans, over all campaigns to achieve a certain strategic goal. Tactics on the other hand are all about the short term, they are tools you use to achieve short term goals. They are part of your overall marketing strategy.

Tactics

Having a strategy and using tactics is essential. More essential however is having the right ones. Not every plan is a strategy, and not every strategy is right for you. But when you do have the right one, it will help you immensely in your marketing. It will help you make your mind faster, because every marketing decision you choose will be chosen based on one question: will this help my overall strategy?

Tactics are also important. Good tactics can save a poor strategy, at least for a while, but bad tactics will ruin even the best laid marketing strategies. You should look at your marketing tactics as the steps you need to take to accomplish your marketing strategy.

Another important point is that you shouldn't use the marketing strategies and tactics used by your competitors because it is yielding good results for them. What works for them may not work for you. The strategies you adopt should stem from your needs and goals.

In the next articles we will look at the different marketing strategies you can use, then we will talk about marketing tactics and finally we will advise you on how to choose the best strategies and tactics for your business. Stay tuned and check www.doubleurincome.com for updates.

Introduction to Marketing Strategies and Tactics

At Double Your Income, you can find free online advice on Internet Marketing, along with more specialized consulting services to your small and medium sized online business in Egypt and the Middle East that are customized to perfectly suit your business' needs and goals.

How to Automate Forex Trades

If you know how to automate forex trading using the latest system, you would be on your way to making the most in the volatile forex market. It is the software that can change simple trading into a very profitable occupation online from the comfort of your home. And the need for automation has come about to provide the leeway to people coast to coast to make money on the go as well as when their computers are not running.

Traders the world over are switching to automation to get the most benefit of currency trading and the numerous opportunities they offer during the trading session day in and day out. Before the automation software came about you couldn't have hoped to drag in the amount of profit you can do now at the click of a mouse. The reputed and advanced software available in the market has been possible after years spent on development of codes.

Strategy

If you can install the software in your system, you can get predictions of trades for the next couple of hours. But you should check out with your broker as well as the system you have whether the software can be installed before you start forex trading. It is a currency trading platform that can allow you to make money easily and fast without any frills. You can access several strategies that are on the web from developers of forex and signal providers.

By automating your trades, you can make your trading simpler. You would need user friendly stuff for forex trading. In the same account you can get multiple benefits with an automated forex trading system. Many average Americans are getting an automated system up and running and making more money online. They can manage their time better as many of them may not be trading full time, but working elsewhere. You can benefit from the automated system as you can get trades done by programming the transactions depending on the price movements.

You have the option of choosing from two different strategies of managing your forex money and investment. You can choose the forex strategy that suits you best and trade them automatically on your account and you can manage your money through fixed lots and fixed percentages. You can sort out the systems using several methods like dollar profit, pips, the number of trades, and average profit per trade as well as max drawdown. By searching online you can get several resources that would help you automate your forex trade easily without any problems.

You should check whether your system can support the software as you would be getting everything to keep you updated in the forex market. And trading in forex is not a one-size-fits-all strategy as you have to choose, combine and finally decide on the tools that suit you best. If you want real time help that is hands-on and smooth in operation, you would have to get your forex trading automated quickly and make more money.

How to Automate Forex Trades

And trading in forex is not a one-size-fits-all strategy as you have to choose, combine and finally decide on the tools that suit you best. Get as much Forex training [http://www.forextrainingground.com].

Click the links for more forex trading information and forex training information.

Ben

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Memory Tactics

How many times have you walked into a room and seen familiar faces but cannot put a name to each person there? I think almost everyone I know is in the same boat with this one. I heard a story about a real disaster on a huge sale because the salesperson could not remember someone's name. The salesperson was sitting having lunch with a client and they were discussing an order for product. As the lunch finished and the client had left, another client saw the salesperson at the table. He walked over to the salesman and said that he needed to have his usual order a month ahead of schedule and if could he look after it immediately. The salesman said no problem and was too embarrassed to ask for the client's name. After the second client left, the salesman scrambled around the restaurant trying to find out the name of the client.

No one knew who it was. He finally ran out of the restaurant to see the client driving away. He managed to get close enough to the car to write down the license number. Unfortunately the car belonged to someone else. And so the story goes, it took him a great deal of time and effort to track down the client's name. All he had to do was ask for his card so he could write down the order. Or even better yet ask for his name.

Tactics

If you have trouble with names, but not faces, then you should practice using their name several times when talking to that person. The more often you use the name the easier it will be to remember.

Memory Tactics

Bette Daoust, Ph.D. is a speaker, author (over 170 books, articles, and publications), and consultant. She has provided marketing, sales, business development and training expertise for companies such as Peet's Coffee & Tea, Varian Medical Systems, Accenture, Avaya, Cisco Systems to name a few. Dr. Daoust has also done extensive work with small businesses in developing their marketing, training, and operational plans. You may contact Dr. Daoust at [http://BizMechanix.com]. You may also view her latest publications at http://BlueprintBooks.com. Dr. Daoust also writes for the National Networker http://theNationalNetworker.com.

Business Strategy Game Quiz Answers

Most Business Strategy Game classes have quizzes separated in difficulty known as "BSG Quiz 1" and BSG Quiz 2". The quizzes have many in game questions relating to the rules, and some questions can be very difficult. Especially in BSG Quiz 2, the answers will need to be solved using basic business knowledge. Here is an example of a question in BSG Quiz 2.

Given the following exchange rate changes:

Strategy

Year 1 Year 2
Euros (EUR) per US$ 0.8230 0.8165
Sing$ per Brazilian real 0.5860 0.5710
Brazilian real per euro (EUR) 3.7030 3.7180
US$ per Sing$ 0.5940 0.5980

Then, as explained on the Help screen for the Branded Sales Report, it follows that:

* The euro has grown weaker versus the US$.

* The Brazilian real has grown stronger against the Sing$.

* The Brazilian real has grown stronger versus the euro.

* The euro has grown stronger against the US$.

* The US$ has grown stronger versus the Sing$.

This is how you answer this question. If year 1 values are lower than year 2, that means it takes more money to purchase another currency in the present year. Or in effect, that the currency will grow weaker.

If year 1 is higher than year 2, that means it takes less money to purchase another currency. Or in effect, that the currency will grow stronger.

So let's deduce which one is the right answer.

"The euro will grow weaker versus the US$."

This can not be right, as the numbers have gotten smaller in the second year, which actually means the currency has gotten bigger.

"The Brazilian real will grow stronger against the Sing$."

As the second number has gotten smaller that means the currency has gotten stronger. But the currency in question is the Sing being stronger, and the words are reversed in this answer. This answer is wrong.

"The Brazilian real will grow stronger versus the euro."

The second number is larger than the first, which means that the currency has gotten weaker. Another wrong one.

"The euro will grow stronger against the US$."

By deducing the first answer, it made this answer automatically right. As the first number is higher than the second, which means the currency has gotten stronger.

"The US$ will grow stronger versus the Sing$."

As the second number has gotten bigger, this means the currency has gotten weaker, and this answer is wrong.

Tough stuff eh? It's not that hard if you walk away and come back to it. But this is how tricky the quiz can get.

Business Strategy Game Quiz Answers

Get more helpful tips and BSG advice from a former BSG Grand Champion by visiting BSG Tips. Email admin@bsgtips.com for more answers to BSG Quiz 1 and 2.

Crafting Strategy For a Competitive Advantage

Strategy is the competitive moves and business approaches for growing the business, creating a market position, attracting and satisfying customers, competing successfully, conducting operation, and achieving target objectives.

When creating strategy, you can utilize a number of different actions:

• Gain sales and market share via lower prices, more performance and features, better quality, or appealing design
• Diversify into new businesses
• Strengthen competitive capabilities and shore-up competitive weaknesses
• Define how key organizational activities are to be handles by management
• Pursue new market opportunities and defend against threats
• Create strategic alliances and collaborative partnerships
• Establish a Merger or Acquisition with your rival
• Enter new product markets
• Respond to changing market conditions and external circumstances

Your strategy should be aimed at creating a product or service that is distinctive from what the competitors are offering or at developing competitive capabilities that they can not quite match. A powerful strategy can make you distinctive which will tilt the playing field in their favor by creating a sustainable competitive advantage.

Strategy

Strategy should blend both proactive actions to improve your market position and financial performance and reactions to unanticipated developments and market conditions. The biggest portion of your current strategy flows from previous business approaches that are working well to merit launching of new initiative to strengthen the overall positions and performance.

All strategic plans should be viewed as work in progress. Changing circumstances and market conditions cause a strategy to emerge and change over time. Strategy should be considered temporary outcomes that respond to market changes and constant experimentation and modifications. A winning strategy should fit with the organizations external and internal situation, build sustainable competitive advantage, and improve the performance.

Crafting Strategy For a Competitive Advantage

Dr. Doreen McGunagle is the CEO of Global Strategic Management Solutions. She is an organizational consultant, facilitator, and speaker. She has more than 20 years experience working with Fortune 1000 companies. Dr. McGunagle mentors, advises, and coaches leaders on key strategy issues that improve market performance and gross profits. An accomplished writer and professor: her publications include The Chinese Auto Industry: Taming the Dragon. Her educational background includes a Ph.D. (Organization and Management with a Specialization in International Business) and MBA (Management).

To find out more information about Dr. McGunagle corporate speaking engagements and consulting availability, please visit http://www.globalstrategicmgmt.com or call 561.208.1071. Sign up for Global Solutions a free e-zine that provides executives with essential strategic and organizational knowledge to help them make decisions. Check out our blog out http://www.globalstrategicmgmt.blogspot.com/

Marketing Mix - 4 Pricing Strategy Alternatives

Pricing is an important part of your marketing mix strategies. Pricing can help or hinder your product or service sales. Given that your product is good quality, that it has the features and benefits that your buyers want and need, that it is differentiated from your competition, and that it has a good cost structure and a good, strong promotion and distribution program, your pricing strategy for your product or service can help you sell it, or not. Pricing strategies can have a very direct impact on growing your market share.

Four alternative pricing strategiess for your business are:

Strategy

• Generic or economy pricing. This strategy treats generic or economy-type brands with a low price - the value to the buyer is in the low price. Your business approach to this pricing strategy must be rooted in a low cost structure, minimal features, minimal promotion but still solid (not extravagant) benefits.
• Differential Pricing. With this strategy, you might choose to price your product differently by buyer type (e.g. retail store, online store, a department store), by geographic region (e.g. the California market might be higher priced than Illinois), by volume purchased (e.g. a customer buying a large volume would receive a different price than one buying a small volume), by national account segment (e.g. you might negotiate special differential pricing with a national account versus the price you would charge to a local account). With all of these differential prices, there must be a justifiable reason for the price differences.
• Premium Pricing. This strategy is commonly used for luxury items or high end, high value goods, such as expensive jewellery, boats, planes, estates, etc. Only use this strategy if your product's value is recognized by your market as being a premium or luxury good.
• Captive Product or Companion Product Pricing. This pricing strategy is also used in product line pricing. This strategy bundles, and usually packages, like products together to be priced as companions (for example, a mixer and a mixing bowl) and as captives (for example, pens that have to have a specific refill (not generic), razors that can only use a specific blade, etc.). Captive or Companion product pricing often relies on packaging to offer the two products in one package (for example, a trial pack of blades with the razor; one pen refill packaged with the pen; or the tape refill with the tape dispenser). Then when those blades, refills or other companion products are used, the price to buy new blades, refills or other products is significantly higher than the original priced package.

Thoroughly analyze your product, your buyers, your competitors (and their possible actions and reactions), and your market before you decide which pricing strategy would best-fit your business. Then review pricing strategy by product, and by product line, on a regular basis to make sure that the fit remains the best.

Marketing Mix - 4 Pricing Strategy Alternatives

For more information on pricing strategies, visit http://www.more-for-small-business.com/pricing-strategy.html and for more information on small business strategies and advice, visit http://www.more-for-small-business.com/
Kris Bovay is the owner of Voice Marketing Inc, a business and marketing services company. Kris has 25 years of experience in leading large, medium and small businesses.
Copyright 2008 Voice Marketing Inc.

STRATEGY

What is strategy?

Definition: strategy is what we want to do, what we want our organization to be & where we want it to go.

Strategy

Why do we need a strategy?

- for understanding our position in the market place
- to give some sense of direction
- focusing on key issues

What does a strategy involve:

- Where are we now & how did we get there? What did we do well or badly to arrive at our current position
- What business are we in? Will this remain the same or will we need to change over business? If so, what?
- What factors, internal or external to the organization will or can have a telling impact on what we do in the future?

The steps written in "What does a strategy involve" above are a continuous process.

Where does strategy fit:

Strategy Models:

# Growth model

Growing market share by reduction in production cost & increasing sales
# Porter's 5 forces model:
# Growth by Mergers, Acquisitions & Takeovers
[Inorganic growth model]
- GE / Mckinsey Model [latest]
- BCG [old strategic tool]
- Value Chain -Porter
- Core Competitiveness - C K Prahlad/ Gary Hamel

- GE / Mckinsey Model

It's also called as Product Portfolio Matrix.

- BCG

- Value Chain

- Core Competitiveness

- How does activity "X" significantly improve the end product for the customer?

- Does "X" offer access to a range of application & needs?

- What would happen to our competitiveness if we lost our strength in "X"?

- How difficult is it for others to imitate activity "X" & compete with us?

- 7S - Mckinsey

Strategists:
Ansoff, Porter, Prahlad, Hamel, Mintzberg, Goldratt, Tom Peters

Guidelines for strategic formulation:
- be different
- learn from the past
- change continuously
- be innovative
- involve people [CFT - cross functional team]

Strategic analysis:
- external environment - SLEPTW analysis
- internal environment - SWOT
- competition - 5 forces model

While making a strategy, look for the following perspectives also:
- strategic horizon
- alternate strategy
- leadership
- customers
- people
- control
- integration
- processes
- results

During the process of strategic formulation:
- seriously question
- involve everyone
- avoid "paralysis by analysis"
- encourage & foster innovation & creativity
- go for a balance
- embrace conflict
- remember that strategy never stops

4 types of organizations:
- short lived
- watchers
- learning organizations &
- movers

Strategic formulation & implementation:

Learning strategy framework

STRATEGY

How to Develop a Training Strategy

1) What is a Training Strategy?

Training and development in an organization requires implementation to achieve success. Therefore, the strategy will require vision, focus, direction and an action planning document. A training strategy is a mechanism that establishes what competencies an organization requires in the future and a means to achieve it.

Strategy

2) Why have a Training Strategy?

Many points can be put forward in favor of why you need a training strategy. The most compelling though rests in the results of a recent study of 3,000 companies done by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania.

They found that 10% of revenue -

spent on capital improvements, boosts productivity by 3.9%

spent on developing human capital, increased productivity by 8.5%

Remember, anything worth achieving, is worth planning for!

3) What are a Training Strategy's Components?

There are many important aspects to consider here. To create the Strategic Training and Development Plan, you will need a detailed profile of your;

• Employee Training and Train-the-Trainer needs,
• Team Building and Team Development,
• Leadership Development,
• Executive Coaching,
• Competency Requirements and Skills Profiling,
• Objectives and Action Plans,
• Vision.

All of these profiles will further have to be considered within the realms of Equity and Diversity, Organization Values, Business Process Improvement, Change Management and Organization Design and Structure.

4) How are Training Strategies Created?

The most successful and profitable approach has been to;

Identify the customer's training needs in terms of their organizational strategic plan, HR strategic plan, personal development plans and focus on comprehensive interviews or focus groups,

• Establish development gaps, present and future,
• Set organizational training objectives,
• Create a training action plan, which must ensure that the necessary systems are in place, access resources, source or design training and position the training. The training must then be delivered and co-ordinated,
• Monitor the training,
• Evaluate the training by assessment and verification, and
• Revise training and/or training plan.

5) How are Training Strategies Implemented?

A strategy designed but not implemented is worthless!

In order to bring about the best results for the training strategy, the training products or services need to be marketed and promoted by manipulating the following;

• Product/Service - keep the training cutting edge and future focused. Make sure there is a practical transfer of learning, put a development support network in place, and ensure alignment to quality standards.
• Promotion - commit to a core training value system. Create a slogan or tagline to brand your training. Bridge the gap between perception and reality. Give your training a personality and a brand, and remember your customers (your employees are customers) want to know, "What's in it for me".
• Price - cost the training accurately and calculate the value received.
• Place - decide between on-the-job, classroom, distance learning, web-based and virtual learning. Access, location, and distribution are key to consider.
• People's needs - establish what your customers want and need. Ensure your customers know the training is meeting their needs and that these needs provide a base for decisions in all other areas.
• Project Management - Establish roles and responsibilities. Action the Training and Development Strategic Plan. Monitor and evaluate progress and make adjustments where necessary.

View our Training Strategy diagram for a visual perspective.

How to Develop a Training Strategy

To learn more about how you can benefit from our Organizational Development Training programs, please visit us at our website.

The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat." - Sun Tzu

What are the fundamental differences between strategy and tactics? Even the savviest on-line and off-line entrepreneurs frequently confuse the two.

Strategy

Tactics are the day-to-day activities that are repeatable in your business and relatively clear-cut. Like blocking and tackling in football, they comprise the basic components of the jobs and the daily activities of any organization - or any business - no matter the size.

They are such things as SEO Campaigns, writing an article, creating a website, making a sales call, or perhaps joining an on-line community such as StomperNet, or Rich Schefren's Business Growth System. Tactics are specifically created and selected to reach particular and measurable objectives.

Tactics are the actual ways in which the strategies are executed. They may also include such things as newsletters, press releases, teleseminars, blogs, advertising, websites, and any other tool that your target markets are usually exposed to.

Tactics are easy to copy. If one company observes innovations in another company's products, for example, the observing company can easily duplicate what it has seen, or develop something comparable if straight duplication is not possible. As soon as the process or product is copied, the competitive advantage of the innovation recedes or disappears.

If you are not careful, tactics may end up being simply quick fixes that can bring short term gain, but they will not lead to long-term success unless rigorously applied; and they must be part of an overall plan for success. Therefore, it is critical to look at each tactic from the standpoint of what it will do to achieve your overall strategy.

Most businesses today tend to be tactically focused. You work diligently every day in your office, doing task after task, but most often without a strategic focus.
Being mainly tactically focused will result in a lot of ups and downs in your business, and very likely a long, slow (or very fast) decline in the value of your business.

Strategy, on the other hand, is perspective, that is, your Future Picture and direction. Strategy involves the "big picture" - the overall plan, and how those plans will achieve your goals and objectives. It involves deciding who the important stakeholders are, and which of them will be the recipients of your messages (i.e., "target audiences"), or the targets of your activities.
Your strategy is the framework, your compass that you will use to make decisions that will benefit the future outcome of your business. Strategy is the set of directions you make to enhance your situation and position within your overall market.

Without a well thought out strategy, your business is merely like a person wandering around uselessly in the dark. There is neither a planned direction of where to go in the future, nor which methods to use to get there. Tactics and strategy are always relative to one another, and together they bridge the gap between ends and means.

To succeed in your business environment, it is vital to plan a strategy that connects your activities to your overall plans. If you have a solid understanding of where you want to be at some defined point in the future, it becomes a relatively simple exercise to create a set of activities to get you there. If you know where you are going, there will be a way to get there - always.

Recognize that there is a difference between strategy and tactics, and do not confuse the two. The company that clearly understands that difference is the business that will be the most successful, the most durable - and the most profitable.

The Difference Between Strategy and Tactics

Certified Professional Management Consultant Jim McCarthy currently works in Oceanside, CA with his wife, Career Consultant Barbara McCarthy.
For information on a complete Strategic Planning System, please go to Internet Marketing

Business Strategy - The Five Generic Competitive Strategies

When I was younger... I [didn't] want to be pigeonholed... Basically, now you want to be pigeonedholed. It's your niche. - Joan Chen, actress

A business strategy represents the game plan that your company will use to run its business, gain market share, and conduct operations. This plan of action determines how the company appeal to and satisfy customers, compete effectively, and accomplish managerial objectives. Developing a strategy should mean there is a managerial dedication to follow a specific group of actions that will advance the company's financial market performance and increase its bottom-line.

Strategy

How will management grow the business while building a loyal customer base and out competing rivals becomes the perspective for both short-term and long-term goals. In order to boost performance and succeed, each functional piece of the business (research and development, supply chain activities, production, sales and marketing, distribution, finance, and human resources) must be unified in operation. Clearly, management's choice of strategy should be guided by the mission statement and the vision of the company. The strategic choice made for the company and by the managers speaks loudly... "Surrounded by the countless unique business approaches and ways of competing we might have selected, we have determined to use this particular mixture of competitive and operating approaches in driving the company in the planned direction, increasing its market position and competitiveness, and advancing execution." Hardly ever are these conclusions regarding strategy uncomplicated and painless for any company, and some of the conclusions may turn out to be mistaken - but that is not a justification for not making a decision on a specific path of action.

When developing a business strategy, your company's present situation must be considered. Managers should be driven to evaluate the business environment for the particular industry and the competitive forces, the company's recent performance and market status, its strong points and abilities, and its competitive weak points. Depending on the needs and the vision of the company, managers are forced to set a clear path for direction. By no means it this path absolute. Setting foot on this path of action requires the company strategy to evolve over time with both proactive and reactive activity. Developing the company strategy is in a cinch intended to guide the company in the planned direction while growing the business, and improving financial and market performance. Thus perfecting the company's vision and empowering the company's mission statement.

This article describes the five basic competitive strategy options - which of the five to make use of is an important and fundamental choice for any company. In developing this overall strategy, your company is beginning its pursuit for a competitive advantage. The main differences among competitive strategies comes down to (1) whether your company sets aim on a market target that is broad or narrow, and (2) whether your company is pursuing a competitive advantage linked to low-cost or product differentiation.

The five distinct competitive strategy approaches that stand out are below:

The Five Generic Competitive Strategies

1. A low-cost provider strategy - striving to achieve lower overall costs than rivals and appealing to a broad spectrum of customers, usually by under pricing rivals.

2. A broad differentiation strategy - seeking to differentiate the company's product offering from rivals' in ways that will appeal to a broad spectrum of buyers.

3. A best-cost provider strategy - giving customers more value for their money by incorporating good-to-excellent product attributes at a lower cost than rivals; the target is to have the lowest (best) costs and prices compared to rivals offering products with comparable attributes.

4. A focused (or market niche) strategy based on low costs - concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and out competing rivals by having lower costs than rivals and thus being able to serve niche members at a lower price.

5. A focused (or market niche) strategy based on differentiation - concentrating on a narrow buyer segment and out competing rivals by offering niche members customized attributes that meet their tastes and requirements better than rivals' products.

Each of these five generic competitive approaches stakes out a different market position. The decision on which generic strategy to employ is conceivably the most vital strategic commitment for your company. This commitment will drive the rest of the strategic actions that your company agrees to and it sets the entire tone for your quest of a competitive advantage over competitors while "Creating Your Own Lane" in business success.

Business Strategy - The Five Generic Competitive Strategies

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Marketing Plan Basics - Marketing Objectives & Strategy

An important element of your basic marketing plan consists of the specific objectives you will try and attain and the overall strategy you will use to achieve those objectives.

It is worth noting that the marketing plan objectives should always lead to actual sales revenue. If not, you need to re-examine your marketing objectives and restate them so that they relate to sales results.

Strategy

Marketing Objectives

Your marketing objectives should be:

• Clear and specific
• Tangible and measurable
• Be time-based, with a target achievement date

Some examples of a marketing objective you might include in your basic marketing plan are:

• Launch new product line on January 1, 2009 to target market, achieving sales target of 0,000 by December 31, 2009
• Re-launch "new and improved" product line to existing customer base, conveying enhancements and revisions and delivering 1,000 qualified sales leads by June 30, 2010.
• Increase product awareness among the target audience by 30% this year.

In many cases, you will have multiple, concurrent marketing objectives, in which case you should make sure that they are consistent with each other and support your overall marketing vision.

Marketing Strategy

In the marketing strategy section of your basic marketing plan, you should outline the strategic plan by which you intend to reach the objectives stated above.

You'll want to specifically address the "four Ps" of marketing (also known as the marketing mix) to address four specific areas of your strategy.

• Product - the specifics about the product or service you will be marketing
• Price - your pricing strategy as it relates to the market conditions and your competition, specifying the exact pricing and offers you will make
• Promotion - the high-level plan of how and where you will advertise your product or service in order to reach your target audience, including TV, radio, print advertisements, direct mail and online marketing efforts
• Place (Distribution) - how the product/service and your prospective customer interact and engage in the selling process, including retail, mail-order, direct sales, telephone sales, wholesale or distributors, etc.

Although it may seem tedious, spending the time to carefully identify your marketing objectives and the overall marketing strategy you will use to reach those objectives will help you create the tactical marketing promotional plan that will ultimately inform and guide your marketing team on what specific actions need to be completed, when they need to be completed by and finally by whom they will be completed.

Marketing Plan Basics - Marketing Objectives & Strategy

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Paul Keetch is co-author of the Make My Marketing Work home study system. If you want to create your customized strategic marketing plan in as little as 10 days, visit http://www.MakeMyMarketingWork.com today!

e-Marketing Strategy: 7 Dimensions to Consider (the e-Marketing Mix)

What is e-Marketing?

e-Marketing is still quite a controversial subject to talk about, since no one succeeded to unify the various theories around it; however there is one thing upon which there is no doubt - that e-Marketing first appeared under the form of various techniques deployed by pioneer companies selling their products via the internet in the early 90's.

Strategy

The frenzy around these new marketing techniques created by e-tailers and supported by the internet rapidly gave birth to a new dimension of what we knew as Marketing: the e-Marketing (electronic Marketing).

There are many definitions to what e-Marketing is, the simplest and shortest one being formulated by Mark Sceats: e-Marketing is Marketing that uses the internet as manifestation media. A working definition is that coming from a group of CISCO specialists: e-Marketing is the sum of all activities a business conducts through the internet with the purpose of finding, attracting, winning and retaining customers.

e-Marketing Strategy

The e-Marketing Strategy is normally based and built upon the principles that govern the traditional, offline Marketing - the well-known 4 P's (Product - Price - Promotion - Positioning) that form the classic Marketing mix. Add the extra 3 P's (People - Processes - Proof) and you got the whole extended Marketing mix.

Until here, there are no much aspects to differentiate e-Marketing from the traditional Marketing performed offline: the extended Marketing mix (4 + 3 P's) is built around the concept of "transactional" and its elements perform transactional functions defined by the exchange paradigm. What gives e-Marketing its uniqueness is a series of specific functions, relational functions, that can be synthesized in the 2P + 2C+ 3S formula: Personalization, Privacy, Customer Service, Community, Site, Security, Sales Promotion.

These 7 functions of the e-Marketing stay at the base of any e-Marketing strategy and they have a moderating character, unlike the classic Marketing mix that comprises situational functions only. Moderating functions of e-Marketing have the quality of moderate, operate upon all situational functions of the mix (the classic 4 P's) and upon each other.

1. Personalization

The fundamental concept of personalization as a part of the e-Marketing mix lies in the need of recognizing, identifying a certain customer in order to establish relations (establishing relations is a fundamental objective of Marketing). It is crucial to be able to identify our customers on individual level and gather all possible information about them, with the purpose of knowing our market and be able to develop customized, personalized products and services.

For example, a cookie strategically placed on the website visitor's computer can let us know vital information concerning the access speed available: in consequence, if we know the visitor is using a slow connection (eg. dial-up) we will offer a low-volume variation of our website, with reduced graphic content and no multimedia or flash applications. This will ease our customer's experience on our website and he will be prevented from leaving the website on the reason that it takes too long to load its pages.

Personalization can be applied to any component of the Marketing mix; therefore, it is a moderating function.

2. Privacy

Privacy is an element of the mix very much connected to the previous one - personalization. When we gather and store information about our customers and potential customers (therefore, when we perform the personalization part of the e-Marketing mix) a crucial issue arises: that of the way this information will be used, and by whom. A major task to do when implementing an e-Marketing strategy is that of creating and developing a policy upon access procedures to the collected information.

This is a duty and a must for any conscious marketer to consider all aspects of privacy, as long as data are collected and stored, data about individual persons.

Privacy is even more important when establishing the e-Marketing mix since there are many regulations and legal aspects to be considered regarding collection and usage of such information.

3. Customer Service

Customer service is one of the necessary and required activities among the support functions needed in transactional situations.

We will connect the apparition of the customer service processes to the inclusion of the "time" parameter in transactions. When switching from a situational perspective to a relational one, and e-Marketing is mostly based on a relational perspective, the marketer saw himself somehow forced into considering support and assistance on a non-temporal level, permanently, over time.

For these reasons, we should consider the Customer Service function (in its fullest and largest definition) as an essential one within the e-Marketing mix.

As we can easily figure out, the service (or assistance if you wish) can be performed upon any element from the classic 4 P's, hence its moderating character.

4. Community

We can all agree that e-Marketing is conditioned by the existence of this impressive network that the internet is. The merely existence of such a network implies that individuals as well as groups will eventually interact. A group of entities that interact for a common purpose is what we call a "community" and we will soon see why it is of absolute importance to participate, to be part of a community.

The Metcalf law (named after Robert Metcalf) states that the value of a network is given by the number of its components, more exactly the value of a network equals the square of the number of components. We can apply this simple law to communities, since they are a network: we will then conclude that the value of a community rises with the number of its members. This is the power of communities; this is why we have to be a part of it.

The customers / clients of a business can be seen as part of a community where they interact (either independent or influenced by the marketer) - therefore developing a community is a task to be performed by any business, even though it is not always seen as essential.

Interactions among members of such a community can address any of the other functions of e-Marketing, so it can be placed next to other moderating functions.

5. Site

We have seen and agreed that e-Marketing interactions take place on a digital media - the internet. But such interactions and relations also need a proper location, to be available at any moment and from any place - a digital location for digital interactions.

Such a location is what we call a "site", which is the most widespread name for it. It is now the time to mention that the "website" is merely a form of a "site" and should not be mistaken or seen as synonyms. The "site" can take other forms too, such as a Palm Pilot or any other handheld device, for example.

This special location, accessible through all sort of digital technologies is moderating all other functions of the e-Marketing - it is then a moderating function.

6. Security

The "security" function emerged as an essential function of e-Marketing once transactions began to be performed through internet channels.

What we need to keep in mind as marketers are the following two issues on security:

- security during transactions performed on our website, where we have to take all possible precautions that third parties will not be able to access any part of a developing transaction;

- security of data collected and stored, about our customers and visitors.

A honest marketer will have to consider these possible causes of further trouble and has to co-operate with the company's IT department in order to be able to formulate convincing (and true, honest!) messages towards the customers that their personal details are protected from unauthorized eyes.

7. Sales Promotion

At least but not last, we have to consider sales promotions when we build an e-Marketing strategy. Sales promotions are widely used in traditional Marketing as well, we all know this, and it is an excellent efficient strategy to achieve immediate sales goals in terms of volume.

This function counts on the marketer's ability to think creatively: a lot of work and inspiration is required in order to find new possibilities and new approaches for developing an efficient promotion plan.

On the other hand, the marketer needs to continuously keep up with the latest internet technologies and applications so that he can fully exploit them.

To conclude, we have seen that e-Marketing implies new dimensions to be considered aside of those inherited from the traditional Marketing. These dimensions revolve around the concept of relational functions and they are a must to be included in any e-Marketing strategy in order for it to be efficient and deliver results.

e-Marketing Strategy: 7 Dimensions to Consider (the e-Marketing Mix)

Otilia Otlacan is a young certified professional with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business, currently working as independent consultant and e-publisher. She developed and teach her own online course in "Principles of e-Marketing" and is also a volunteer Economics teacher.

You can contact her via her personal website at BRAINmarketing.net [http://www.brainmarketing.net] or check out her latest developing Marketing resources project at TeaWithEdge.com

How To Create An Effective Business Development Strategy

The Business Development Strategy is used to underpin your main Business Plan and essentially it sets out a standard approach for developing new opportunities, either from within existing accounts or by proactively targeting brand new potential accounts and then working to close them.

This document highlights the key issues you should consider prior to compiling your own plan and will hopefully guide you logically through a proven framework.

Strategy

The key word is 'Strategy', because you are creating a workable and achievable set of objectives in order to exceed your annual target.

Your Starting Point:

The key words are Who? What? Where? When? Which? Why? How?

For example:

Who - are you going to target?

What - do you want to sell them?

Where - are they located?

When - will you approach them?

Which - are the appropriate target personnel?

Why - would they want to meet with you?

How - will you reach them?

If you have conducted regular account reviews with your key accounts during the previous twelve months, you should be aware of any new opportunities that will surface during the next twelve months. You will also, when assessing what percentage of your annual target usually comes from existing accounts, need to review data over the last two or three years. (It is likely that you can apply Pareto i.e. 80% of your business will probably come from existing accounts and in fact 80% of your total revenue will come from just 20% of your customers/clients)

You will be left with a balance - i.e. "20% of my business next year will come from new opportunities" - therefore you can then begin to allocate your selling time accordingly.

Ideal Customer Profiling:

Pro-active business development demands that we create an ideal target at the front end - i.e. an Ideal Customer Profile. The essential characteristics you will need to consider are:

- Industrial Sector

- Geographical Location (Demographics)

- Size of organisations (Turnover, number of employees etc)

- Financial Trends

- Psychographics - i.e. Philosophical compatibility

Many strategic sales professionals merely profile their best existing clients and try to replicate them - there's nothing wrong with doing this but we should always remember that we are seeking an IDEAL and we can always improve on what we already have.

'New' Opportunities From Within 'Old' Accounts:

Because it costs approximately ten times as much, to first locate and then sell to a new customer as it does an existing one (although these costs are rarely reflected in the cost of sales), it is essential that we fully develop our existing accounts working upwards, downwards and sideways, thus making the most of the (hopefully) excellent reputation we have developed already.

Most corporate accounts have several divisions, departments, sites, even country offices and you must satisfy yourself that you have exhausted every possible avenue. Don't be afraid to ask the question "Who else should I be talking to in your organisation"?

Developing New Opportunities:

There are a number of ways in which we can target new opportunities e.g.

o Direct Mail

o Telephone Canvassing

o Researching Archived Files For Customers Who Used To Buy From Your Company

o Exhibitions

o Seminars

o User Groups

o E-Mail Campaigns

o Referrals

o Qualified Leads

o Advertising

Not all of these will be appropriate to your particular industry, but you should not be afraid to experiment - i.e. challenge the paradigm - and do not accept that just because a particular idea has not worked in the past that it will not do so in the future. (Remember when you were learning to walk - it didn't work first time then!)

The important thing is to make an early decision in terms of what you are going to try and then build this (those) ideas into your master plan.

A Typical Business Development Plan:

You should plan out the whole year and review / revise quarterly.

o List your existing accounts and plan what activities / actions need to be completed in order to fully exhaust all opportunities. You may for instance, plan to cover more bases within the decision making unit or contact associated companies or offices. The Strategic Account Profile can be used as a prompt.

o Begin to target new accounts using business directories etc. and set targets per week / month / quarter i.e. I normally allow for eight hours per week as a minimum (Don't forget to continually refer back to your Ideal Profile)

o Then build in what assistance you need from your marketing function - i.e. qualified leads, seminars, exhibition attendance etc.

o Finally share your plan with your manager and then commit to it.

You should also measure it against S.M.A.R.T.E.R. i.e. is it.

S.pecific

M.easurable

A.chievable

R.elevant

T.imed

E.xciting

R.ecorded

Linking With Your Commercial Plan:

I have suggested that your Business Development Strategy, would link with your Master Business Plan but logically you should also integrate it into your Commercial Kit(this is a document that outlines your monthly,quarterly and annual targets) - specifically the areas that deal with new business generation, account management and development, four tier account lists etc.

These three documents when combined should drive and guide you through the next twelve months and beyond.

Summary:

As I have said often enough "People do not fail because they planned to fail but rather because they failed to plan"

The man who knows where he wants to go is more likely to get there, he just has to decide how to get there. All plans are essentially maps and guides; the strategic element is the 'How'.

Do be prepared to change course, flexibility is key, and don't be afraid to experiment, look outside the square.

Copyright © 2008 Jonathan Farrington. All rights reserved

How To Create An Effective Business Development Strategy

Jonathan Farrington is the CEO of Top Sales Associates and Chairman of The Sales Corporation - based in London and Paris. Jonathan's personal site The JF Consultancy, - www.jonathanfarrington.com - offers a superb range of unique and innovative sales solutions and you can also catch his daily blog at The JF Blogit - www.thejfblogit.co.uk

Implement Your Strategy Successfully

Too many managers wait far too long before thinking about implementing their strategy. They finish their strategy sessions, and only then consider the question of implementation. This is a mistake. By waiting until after their strategy sessions, they miss earlier opportunities to encourage successful implementation. Don't follow their mistake. To encourage successful implementation of your strategy, you should take specific steps before, during and after your strategy sessions

BEFORE YOUR STRATEGY SESSIONS...

Strategy

Prior to your strategy sessions, you have the opportunity to lay the groundwork for successful strategy implementation. Here are your specific steps...

o Demonstrate Senior Management Commitment. If senior management isn't committed to the strategic planning process, neither will anyone else be. Senior managers must demonstrate their commitment, not just by word, but by deed as well. They must devote their own time to the planning process. And also demonstrate readiness to allocate the necessary resources to the resultant strategies.

o Select the "right" planning team members. The members of your planning team will come from the ranks of top management - likely your key functional managers. This brings the expertise necessary to develop the plan and also allows the necessary immediate strategic decisions. And just as important, it builds ownership among the key managers who will later direct implementation of the resultant strategies.

o Gather the "right" pre-planning information. Gather not just the obvious financial data. Also gather information about your customers and the benefits they seek in purchasing your products and services. Why they buy. Why they don't. And information about your competition. Their strengths and weaknesses. And how their offering compares to yours. Successful strategies follow from your management team's full appreciation of your enterprise and its relationship to its marketplace. You need to go well beyond the data. Gather information to build and maintain your planning team's knowledge and to encourage strategic thought.

o Solicit input from your employees. Get your employees involved in the planning process. Use a survey to "flush up" issues important to them. Their participation will build their commitment. Employees having the opportunity to participate in their company's strategic plan feel "a part" of that plan. They're committed to the success of the plan; and the successful implementation of the strategies within the plan. At his company's strategic planning retreat, the Vice- President of Marketing for one of our client companies remarked, "The managers in our marketing department are eager to see this plan. They've provided much of the initial input for this session, so they're looking forward to learning of, and implementing, the resultant strategies."

DURING YOUR STRATEGY SESSIONS...

At your strategy sessions, you and your planning team will develop each of the elements of your strategic plan. During those sessions, you'll again find opportunities to encourage successful strategy implementation. Specific steps for doing so include...

o Encourage participation. Work toward rich, lively discussion on all issues. Solicit input from the more hesitant, and, if necessary, temper the more domineering individuals. To do so, you must be sure the facilitator of your sessions has not only expertise in the planning process, but also, skill in handling the planning team's interpersonal dynamics.

o Develop objectives which you can track with your current reporting system. You'll be busy enough implementing your plan; you don't want to pioneer a new reporting system at the same time. Yes, once in a while - particularly for an "outside the box" strategy - you'll need to "invent" some new measurement. But try to keep such inventions to a minimum.

o Develop a "balanced" list of objectives. Resist the tendency to set all of your objectives in the areas of finance and marketing. Make sure that at least one of your objectives is in the area of human resources. Far more of your employees care about human resource issues than about profit or sales volume. Having one or two human resource objectives, you can successfully respond when an employee asks "What's in it for me?"

o Develop strategies built on your company's strengths. If you're strong in marketing, you'll do best by promoting your way to success. If you're good at product development, you'd best invent your way to growth. Don't select a strategy just because it's currently popular or because it worked well for another firm. For a strategy to work well for you, it must be based on your company's strengths.

o Consider available resources. You'll need to estimate the resources required to implement each strategy. Be especially careful about over-committing those resources - particularly peoples' time. There's a fine line between challenge, which encourages implementation; and over-commitment, which discourages implementation. Be careful.

o Develop a built-in monitoring system. Have a key manager accept responsibility for implementing each strategy. That manager's name, along with a due date for completion, then becomes a part of your strategy statement. Including a name and a due date along with the strategy aids in monitoring the strategy's implementation. It also assures that a key manager "owns" each strategy.

AFTER YOUR STRATEGY SESSIONS...

Following development of your strategies, you'll have additional opportunities to encourage implementation...

o Communicate your strategy. Tell your employees of your strategy. Especially those employees who will help with your strategy's implementation. As you conclude your strategy sessions, ask this closing question of your planning team: "Now that we've developed our strategic plan, how should we communicate it to our employees?"

o Link your strategic plan to your operational plan. Ask each manager responsible for a specific strategy to take that strategy back to his or her department. And there, ask those employees who will implement the strategy to develop detailed tactics. Ask them to assign responsibility for each tactic; to set due dates; to project required resources. Peter Drucker wisely said, "Nothing happens until we reduce strategy to work." Implementing strategy is work. You'll do well to manage it as such.

o Monitor your progress quarterly. You've perhaps heard the saying, "If you don't measure it, it won't happen." This certainly applies to implementing strategy. With a quarterly monitoring system, you'll be well aware of your implementation progress and any associated problems. And during your quarterly monitoring meetings, you can consider your options for getting a wayward strategy back on track.

o Fine tune the process. Watch for opportunities to improve your planning process. This will help with implementation of your strategies in later years. At the third quarterly review of your strategic plan, take a little extra time to discuss the planning process. To look back on your strategy sessions. Ask, "What went well?" and "What didn't go so well?" and "What changes might we make to improve the process next time around?" Explore any and all suggestions to fine tune your planning process - so it brings continuous improvement to both your strategy development and your strategy implementation.

Implement Your Strategy Successfully

Bill Birnbaum, CMC, is President of Birnbaum Associates, business strategy consultants. He helps clients develop a shared strategic vision, and then turn that vision into a sound business strategy.

Bill has served on the board of directors for three high growth corporations. He's taught strategy courses for the American Management Association and authored "Strategic Thinking: A Four Piece Puzzle" (Douglas Mountain Publishing, 2004). His book is available through book stores and on-line book sellers.

His website contains informative articles on strategic thinking, on business strategy and on economic trends affecting business: http://www.BirnbaumAssociates.com/